Russian Court Upholds Prolongation Of Savchenko's Arrest

A Russian court has rejected an appeal from Ukrainian military pilot Nadia Savchenko over an extension of her detention.

The Rostov regional court on October 5 upheld a ruling by another court on September 15 prolonging Savchenko's stay in jail until January.

Russian officials say Savchenko, who served in a volunteer battalion in eastern Ukraine where she was fighting against Russian-backed separatists, provided the coordinates for a mortar attack that killed two Russian journalists in 2014.

Savchenko has insisted she was captured by rebels in Ukraine and illegally taken into Russia.

She had previously gone on a hunger strike to protest her detention.

International rights groups have called for Savchenko to be released.

Savchenko was also elected in absentia to Ukraine's parliament last year.